Sudden change of street’s name confuses residents

The name-change ghost that is splitting communities apart in the province and other parts of the country is raising its head again.

This time around, it is not about the names of towns but street names that have been changed without consultating local residents. One prominent street is Green Valley Road in Thohoyandou Block F, which has been changed to Shahid Inyat Street.

This is allegedly causing huge confusion in the community as those using couriers to deliver their parcels have lost things when using the old street names and creditors getting lost because of the confusion.

Mr  Peter Evans, who is from the UK but now resides in Thohoyandou Block F, said he had just returned from home and was shocked to find that the road he lived in, Green Valley Road, had been renamed Shahid Inyat Street.  "I understand that this is the name of a Pakistani Muslim martyr. None of the local residents are aware or have been consulted about the name change. The municipality should have a good explanation for this name change, and how much money they received in payment for allocating this name.”

He added that the new name of the street was probably known to only to a handful of Muslims, “and there is no justification for naming a main road through Thohoyandou with this name," he said.

Evans said everything would be fine if all the parties concerned had been consulted, but for now he would be glad if the street could be returned to its original name.

Indian community leader Ayub Madina said he was also shocked to see that one of the streets had been changed to his surname. "What I know is that the street-naming project is still ongoing, and I have also offered to donate the signboards. I was also shocked to see our surname on Google. Perhaps the civic people know what the position is," he said.

Attempts to draw comment from local Sanco executive member Ms Mukhuwana drew a blank as her phone kept ringing without being answered. A former Sanco leader, however,  confirmed that a street-naming project was underway, but as far as she knew, the project was still awaiting council approval.

This paper tried to call the municipality's spokesperson, but could not get comment as he was attending a workshop in Gauteng. We again called Mr Makonde Mathivha, the municipal manager, who said he was not in position to comment as he did not have information about the project. Mathivha hinted that if there were people who were aggrieved about the project, they knew the right channels to follow.

"There are the councillors and other structures that those with problems could approach where they could be helped," he said. "Be it as it may, the name-changing project will inconvenience many residents in the area as many do not know their streets were changed.”

Date:13 February 2015

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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